Supermoons

11/14/16

“Why is it that the moon appears larger in the sky some nights than others?”

Have you ever wondered why the moon appears to be larger on some nights than others? Well, let’s think about it. We know that the moon revolves around the Earth every night. In addition, this orbit is elliptical, meaning that the moon will be closer to the Earth at some times rather than others. So wouldn’t be logical when the moon is closer to the Earth in it’s orbit, it would appear larger in the sky? This is the very principle behind a supermoon. Supermoons occur at a frequency of once every 14 months, with the most recent one (as of writing) happening on November 14th, 2016 (The largest one in nearly 8 decades!). As a natural consequence of the close proximity of supermoons, the tidal force amplifies up to 19 percent!

• Astronomy